E-mobility and lubricant market dynamics
By Kevin Delaney, STLE President | TLT President's Report October 2025
Explore the dynamic e-mobility landscape and its implications for the lubricant market with STLE this November.
One of my duties as STLE President is to write a monthly column for the President’s Report in TLT. Writing is not one of my favorite things, but this audience (at least some of it) consists of people with shared experiences and interests. That means that I may not generate so many glazed eyes and drooping eyelids as when I talk about this stuff with my family and friends. If you are still awake, here we go.
STLE’s next Tribology & Lubrication for E-Mobility Conference is being held in Troy, Mich., Nov. 19-21. As this industry is evolving, we are getting speakers to present new topics, as well as updates on continuing concerns. To quote from our website: “The conference offers industry professionals the opportunity to attend educational sessions and networking discussions with leading experts and companies with an interest in e-mobility. Attendees learn about the latest state-of-the-art developments in electric vehicle technologies and lubrication.” You can find more details at
www.stle.org/Emobility.
In my daily 60-mile (each way) commute, I see ever-increasing numbers of all-electric vehicles such as Teslas and Rivians, as well as countless hybrids. This is truly a topic that is becoming more mainstream, and it has huge implications for the lubricants market. If you are involved with engine oils, consider that internal combustion engines (ICEs) change their oil on a regular basis, so that volume of lubricants will eventually disappear. Other lubricants in vehicles tend to have much longer change intervals, if they are ever changed at all. How soon this disappearance will happen depends upon many things, such as government regulations and subsidies, infrastructure availability, consumer acceptance and how long people keep their cars with ICEs.
For companies that participate in the lubricants market, part of your planning probably addresses this upcoming change in market dynamics. If you are involved in education or research, you are most likely generating projects that address various aspects of the technology associated with the novel opportunities presented by this change.
What better way to increase your e-mobility knowledge and contacts than to attend this conference? Registration is now open. To view the program and register today, visit
www.stle.org/Emobility.
Kevin Delaney is global sales director for the Petroleum Group at Vanderbilt Chemicals, LLC, based in Norwalk, Conn. You can reach him at kdelaney@vanderbiltchemicals.com.